Was Jesus crucified on a cross, pole, or stake?

Q. — Does not ξύλον, tree, and σταυρὸς, imply not the traditional form of a cross, but rather a pole or stake? L.L.

A. — The "tree" was rather generic; and even the Jews used it as a sign of curse and degradation, after killing the evil-doer. The "cross," is more specific, sometimes applied to impaling, at others to suspending the body from the middle, but still more widely to proper crucifixion by nailing the sufferer to an upright beam with a transverse to which the stretched arms were fastened. So the inspired description proves it was in our Lord's case; where there was also all elongation of the central board, bearing over the head the memorable words which Pilate wrote to the dire offence of the Jews. Its form then resembled, not an X as some fancy, but a T with that headpiece surmounting the centre of the cross-beam, pretty near what is generally conceived.

The most painful and the most degrading capital punishment, reserved for the worst crimes and for the lowest class of people. The Romans used a short beam fastened to a long upright one, on which was placed a piece of wood for the feet to rest on. Nails were driven through the hands and feet; but historians say that sometimes the feet were only tied. The torture was dreadful, and the thirst great; but in some cases life lasted three days, none of the vital parts being reached. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and of the two malefactors are the only cases named in scripture: crucifixion was not practised by the Jews. A stupefying draught was given to the prisoners, but the Lord refused it. He would drink the bitter cup to the dregs. It is clear from scripture, by His crying with a loud voice just before His death, that as stated in John's gospel (John 10:18) He gave up His life. Luke 23:46; John 19:30. The Lord referred to the manner of His death as being lifted up out of the earth, so that death by stoning would not have answered to this. John 3:14; John 8:28; John 12:32. We also read that He was made a curse for us; for "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Gal. 3:13; Deut. 21:23. Thus did the blessed Lord in saving rebellious man go down to the very lowest form of death.

We are spared the pain of details in the actual immolation of the blessed Sufferer, which is described in the brief words: "They crucified Him." We know from other scriptures it was by nailing Him to the cross which was lifted up from earth, with Him suspended upon it, hanging upon the tree.

Here they crucified Him. No description of the act itself is given in any of the Gospels. Crucifixion was the most horrible torturing mode of putting criminals to death; it originated in Phoenicia and was adopted by the Roman government. The Jews themselves knew nothing of putting transgressors to death by the cross. Inasmuch as the Holy Spirit does not describe the awful act, the nailing of the Lord to the cross, we shall not attempt it. Lifted up, His hands and feet pierced by nails, every muscle stretched and life's blood pouring out, He hung on the cross, suffering the unspeakable tortures of such a death.

One other indignity must be added, that the words of Isaiah might be fulfilled, "And he was numbered with the transgressors." (Isa. 53:12.) "And there were also two other malefactors, led with him to be put to death." What a sight! He who was God, walking with two thieves, to that place where the great work of the preparation day must be accomplished, that shall bring lost sinners into the sabbath, the rest of God. The procession halts at a place of a skull, Calvary. "There they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left." This is at the third hour of Jewish time, or 9 o'clock A.M. The cross was not merely an instrument of death, but of torture and death, the most prolonged and painful torture. The six hours' torture are divided into two distinct parts. Let us inquire what took place in each.

We have traced the holy sufferer through the hours of the preparation day until the third hour, or nine o'clock A.M. In His last journey He halted at the place of crucifixion. We read the words, but how little can we realise the depth of degradation to the holy, holy Son of God. Let us meditate on what took place during the first three hours on the cross, until twelve at noon. What is crucifixion? At first it was an instrument of death, shameful and cruel. The poor criminal was stripped naked, a sharp stake was placed in the ground with the point upwards. This was driven through the body of the living prisoner, upwards to the heart, and there he was impaled to die! But this was a merciful death compared to the mode used in the days of our Lord.

A hole was dug in the ground to receive the beam of wood. The feet were nailed to that wood and the body laid in awful agony on the same, and the hands nailed to the cross part at the top. Then think of the torture of the body as the cross was lifted up, and let fall in the hole prepared. It was at this supreme moment of untold pain that Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." For three hours He hung there on that shameful cross, brutal soldiers mocking Him, rulers deriding Him. Oh, behold Him there crucified between two thieves. "And the scripture was fulfilled which says, And he was numbered with the transgressors." And there the unfeeling crowd pass by, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ah thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross." The priest, yes, the chief of them, joined in the mockery, The very thieves reviled Him. (Mark 15:25-32.) Oh, for three hours they sat down and watched Him endure the torture of the cross.

Now let me draw your attention to the last subject in our scripture, a part of it so deeply affecting to our souls — the immediate circumstances accompanying the crucifixion itself. First, you will notice that there was no infamy, no shame, no amount of opprobrium, too great to heap upon the spotless One. They first hang Him upon a gibbet; and I say "gibbet" for a special reason. We must look at things as they really are. We speak of the cross, and God speaks of the cross; but I sometimes think there is very little realization of what the cross means. The cross has become a fashionable ornament in Christendom; people decorate their persons with the cross. Yet what was the cross but a gibbet, the Roman mode of capital punishment — a cruel, shameful, scornful, hateful kind of death?

They hanged Him, then, upon a tree — "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." It was not, as we know, the Jewish way of punishing criminals. We learn from the Old Testament Scriptures that when an offender was put to death by the Jews he was stoned. But to be hanged, to be placed upon a gibbet, was a Gentile, a heathen mode of execution; and thus it was they handed Christ over to the Romans, saying, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." The heathen Roman soldiery were little better than savage executioners, and were unrivalled for brutality and cruelty. They placed the Blessed One between two malefactors, proving what I have said before, that there was no amount of ignominy, scorn, and shame, too great to invest Him with in that moment. And therefore the Holy Ghost records here: "There were also two other, malefactors, led with Him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him." vv. 32, 33.

The wooden structure to which criminals were nailed. Jesus died on a cross: hence it is an emblem of the crucifixion of Christ, so that we read of the 'death of the cross,' and the 'blood of his cross,' Phil. 2:8; Col. 1:20; also the 'preaching of the cross.' 1 Cor. 1:18. The cross of Christ makes nothing of man and sets aside all his pretensions: therefore to preach 'the cross ' arouses man's hatred and persecution. Gal. 5:11; Gal. 6:12, 14. 'The cross' is also a symbol of the shame and self-denial that lie in the believer's path. He is exhorted to take up his cross daily and follow the Lord. Luke 9:23.

Moreover, He accepted death from the hands of men in its most shameful form. Crucifixion was peculiarly a death of repudiation and shame. As a Roman invention it expressed the haughty contempt with which they put to death the conquered barbarians, nailing them up as though they were vermin. To such a death was Jesus delivered by the leaders of the Jews. John gives us but the briefest and plainest statement of that tremendous fact. The Lord of glory was crucified. That fact needs no embellishment of any kind.

The Cross was death; but it was a death of utter repudiation, a death of degradation and shame. I think I am right in saying that it was a way of executing the death sentence introduced by the haughty Romans. They had an iron empire beside which even the British Empire is a fragile affair, and for centuries their empire existed. As you know, unspeakable cruelties were perpetrated, and when they defeated and captured poor barbarians they nailed them up in contempt, just as a farmer might nail vermin to his barn door.

This was the contemptuous treatment meted out by the Romans to their enemies; they would not give them a decent execution under the axe—that was reserved for the condemned Roman—they nailed them with supreme cruelty to a cross of wood. Now that was the death which the Lord of glory died—a death of repudiation, degradation, condemnation.

Two different words are translated as ‘crucified': the common one that is derived from the word ‘cross' and then a word that occurs only once in the New Testament and means ‘nailed' or ‘fastened' to the cross: ‘him … ye, by the hand of lawless men, have crucified' (Acts 2:23). This shows the audacity as well as the folly of man in committing this act.